Toothed lever tension device particularly for mountain and ski-boots



TOOTHED L'EVBR' TENSION DEVI-CE PARTICULARLY 'FOR MOUNTAINAND SKI-BOOTSFiled Feb. 9, 1968 J y 21, 1970 -A. s. STEINBERG 3,521,330

I f I @r" I 1 In H I +4 A vALaERTo JUSSMAN SI'EmBE K6 BY QM ATTORNEY3,521,330 Patented July 21, 1970 Int. Cl. A43c 11/14 US. C]. 2470 8Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A lever tension device, particularlyfor mountain and ski-boots, comprising two elements, each of which isapplied on one of the borders to be joined, one of said elements beingformed of a toothed lever and the other of a tension ring, wherein thelever having at least one outer toothing is loosely pivoted on twoparallel shoulders projecting from the base plate, from which also aspring projects for coacting with the resistant arm of the lever, thepressing action of the spring operating to steadily hold said lever ateither of the two end positions, by acting on one of the sides ofprominence, respectively, particularly for ensuring the closingposition.

This invention relates to a multi-sean'ng tension and traction leverparticularly suitable for mountain boots and ski boots, the pivoting endof which has an eccentric periphery co-acting with an underlyingresilient tongue resting on a stationary base plate.

It is the object of the invention to provide by such a resilient tonguean opposition against the eccentricity of the end of the moving lever atclosed and open positions in order to provide a stop for said lever bysteadily holding it at its final positions, as unaffected by anypossible unintentional stresses tending to lift said lever and to causethe fastening to be opened.

A further object of the invention is to provide such a simple deviceboth as to structure and use, having a reduced number of components, aminimized height dimension and capability of a Wide tension adjustment.

Obviously, the lever tension device of the invention is particularly,but not exclusively designed for mountain and ski-boots.

The device includes a first element fast with one of two edge portionswhich are to be joined together, this element comprising a traction ringpivoted on a stationary plate, and a second element fast with the otheredge portion and formed of a toothed lever for receiving said ringwithin one of its seatings so as to put the ring under tension and tohold it at this condition, said lever having an outer toothing and beingpivoted onto protruding shoulders of a plate fixed to the other edgeportion to be joined, the pivot being loosely arranged in an oval holeor slot, the major axis of which is inclined, whereas a short resistantportion or tail of the lever eccentrically projecting on an extension ofsaid major axis is subjected to the resilient action of a spring, themaximum operative location of which is displaced upstream relative tothe pivoting holes of the stationary bearings, so that at the end leverpositions said spring operates on the sides of the eccentric lever tail,thus after having clearly passed the dead center or maximum tensioncenter for the spring.

Finally, in order to provide a better and finer adjustment, the levercan have lower and upper toothings olfset to each other and eitheradapted to receive said tension traction ring.

The following detailed description is related to the accompanyingdrawing diagrammatically showing only by way of example some embodimentsof the invention.

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a tension lever device according to theinvention in closed position;

FIG. 2 is a side view thereof;

FIG. 3 shows the lever and mounting plate elements making up thefastening means as moved away from each other for a better understandingthereof;

FIG. 3a is a plan view of the mounting plate with the spring formedtherefrom;

FIG. 4 is a vertical sectional view of FIG. 1 according to a planethrough 4-4;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary vertical sectional view showing the device withthe lever at open position, this form having an independent springapplied to the lever mounting plate;

FIGS. 6 and 7 are plan views respectively showing said independentspring and mounting plate, then overlappingly mounted as shown in FIG.5; and

FIG. 8 is a side view showing a modification of the device provided witha double toothing lever.

Lever device 10 as shown in FIG. 1 is anchored to a leather edge portionor border 9 of the uppers of a boot, opposite to an adjacent borderthereof, not shown, with traction ring 11 being restrained thereto andcoacting with device 10 to approach and to hold said borders undertraction.

'By any preferred means a plate 12 is secured on border 9 and has twoorthogonally facing shoulders '13 forming a pair of supports for pivot14, lever 15 being pivoted thereon. Pivot 14 is close to the surface ofthe uppers 9 since no element prevents said lever from resting on saiduppers, as occurs in almost all of the other traction lever types. Thepresent device also has the further advantage of carrying a plurality ofteeth 16 and respective slots 16, said teeth 16 being outward facing,thus providing for an extreme easiness in hooking and unhooking for ring11. However, as shown in FIG. '8, a series of teeth 26 can be alsoprovided on the inner edge with respective slots 26', these teeth andslots being offset to the outer teeth and slots 16, 16, so as to providefor a further possibility of tension adjustment. On the end of aresistant arm or tail of lever 15 there is provided an eccentric curve15", the maximum prominence of which projects onto the extension of themajor axis of aperture 17 having an oval or otherwise elongated shape.This elongated aperture 17 coacts in the swinging movement of lever 15with the eccentric curve 15" of said resistant ,arm '15, the aperturebeing inclined so that, when lever 15 is tensioned by ring 11 (FIG. 4),pivot 14 is necessarily at the upper end of aperture 17 with a resultingmaximum lowering of arm 15' relative to pivot 14.

A spring 18, fast with plate 12, coacts against projection 15", whichspring may be independent of said plate 12 (FIG. 6) and secured thereto,or formed by shearing or blanking, shaping and hardening from said plate12 (FIGS. 3-3a). At closed position, traction of ring 11 (FIGS. 2 and 4)will hold pivot 14 at the top of aperture 17, (topmost end): this causesa deflection of resilient tongue 18 by curve 15" and then, having passedthe top of said curve at the lever stroke end, a setting of said spring18 against the lower side of lever 15, so that the pressing action oftongue or spring 18 will hinder any raising of lever 15 in the directionof arrow F (FIG. 4) and will resist therefore any unintentional orcasual unhooking of the device. However and without any excessivestrain, it will enable a manual unhooking as desired by the user, which,as soon as the obstacle provided by projection 15" is overcome, will befacilitated by the elongated shape of aperture 17 and the inclineddirection thereof, since in this case the thrust of said tongue 18, inconjunction with the traction along said ring 11, will cause saidaperture 17 to slide upward relative to said pivot 14 until the openposition shown in FIG. 5 is reached. At this position, and having passedthe dead center, said lever will remain at a steady raised positionconvenient for reclosing operation, and this owing to the action ofspring 18 pressing on the side flank opposite to that which provides fora reliable closure.

In FIG. 5 the spring 18 is not made from plate 12, but from anindependent lamination coinciding with the shape of plate 12 only as tothe peripheral portion, while inwardly having a tongue 18, fully similarto the above described tongue 18. When the two plates 12 and 19 areoverlapped (FIG. 5), tongue 18' projects upward through aperture 20(FIG. 7) in plate 12, whereas the remainder is the same as abovedescribed. In the example shown, the cantilever tip of spring 18 or 18'faces the edge of uppers portion 9, but it could, as apparent, bearranged in the opposite direction.

What is claimed is:

1. An improved fastening device particularly for mountain and ski boots,including two coacting elements adapted to be secured respectively toboot borders which are to be fastened together, one of said elementsincluding a toothed lever and the other including a traction memberhaving a looped free end, wherein said one element comprises a lever armhaving toothing formed in and along its upper side to receive and retainsaid looped end, a base plate having shoulder means projecting upwardlytherefrom, and pivot means fulcruming one end of said lever arm looselyon said shoulder means so that said arm end is displaceable relative tosaid plate and will be urged toward it by tension of said tractionmember engaged in said toothing, said traction member being elongatedand being arched in the direction of its length so that its ends willlie below the fulcrum of said arm end and apply tension holding said armin closed position when said arm is turned downward with said looped endengaged in said toothing.

2. A device according to claim 1, said one end of said lever arm havinga prominence thereon located to the side of said pivot means away fromsaid toothing, said one element further including a spring projectingabove said base plate and pressing upwardly against said prominence torestrain movement of said lever arm.

3. A device according to claim 2, said spring comprising a resilienttongue formed integrally with and protruding from a portion of said baseplate.

4. A device according to claim 2, said spring comprising a resilienttongue protruding through an opening in said base plate from a mountingplate mating with and clampable under a portion of said base plate.

5. A device according to claim 1, said pivot means comprising a pivotpin fixed to one of said arm end and said shoulder means and an apertureformed in the other of them and loosely holding said pin therein, saidaperture being elongated in the direction of inclination of the teeth ofsaid toothing.

6. A device according to claim 1, said one end of said lever arm havinga prominence thereon located to the side of said pivot means away fromsaid toothing, said one element further including a resilient tongueprojecting above said base plate and pressing upwardly against saidprominence to restrain movement of said lever arm, said pivot meanscomprising a pivot pin fixed to said shoulder means and an apertureformed in said arm end and loosely holding said pin therein, saidaperture being elongated in the direction of inclination of the teeth ofsaid toothing.

7. A device according to claim 6, the surface of said prominencecomprising a convexly curved apex portion traversing an extension of themajor axis of said aperture, and comprising flatter portions extendingfrom the ends of said. apex portion and engaged by said tongue when saidlever arm is in its opened and closed positions, respectively, wherebysaid tongue restrains said lever arm against casual displacement fromeither of said positions.

8. A device according to claim 1, said lever arm having a smooth lowersurface extending from said pivot means along the lower side of said armopposite said toothing, and adapted to lie directly on said base plateand the adjacent surface of the boot.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,399,430 9/ 1968 March 247O3,401,432 9/1968 Tresenreiter 24-70 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,465,663 12/ 1966France.

DONALD A. GRIFFIN, Primary Examiner

